We work to find the most relevant and interesting articles about yield stocks to share with Forbes readers. The site is a one-stop source for aggregated data on dividend stocks, including features such as a dividend stock screener, a live dividend feed, an ex-div calendar, and a dividend calculator.

Short Interest Drops 28% For AOL

The most recent short interest data has been released by the NASDAQ for the 11/15/2013 settlement date, which shows a 3,255,641 share decrease in total short interest for AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), to 8,398,221, a decrease of 27.94% since 10/31/2013. Total short interest is just one way to look at short data; another metric that we here at Dividend Channel find particularly useful is the “days to cover” metric because it considers both the total shares short and the average daily volume of shares traded. The number of shares short is then compared to the average daily volume, in order to calculate the total number of trading days (at the average volume) it would take to close out all of the open short positions if every share traded represented a short position being closed. Average daily volume for AOL at the 11/15/2013 settlement increased to 2,728,265, as compared to 1,664,358 at the 10/31/2013 report. That brought “days to cover” down to 3.08, a 56.04% decrease from the 7.00 days to cover calculated at the previous short interest data release.

The below chart shows the historical “days to cover” for AOL at previous short interest release dates:

A decreased “days to cover” value could indicate that short sellers are no longer expecting the same decline in stock price they once were, or it could also indicate a long bet elsewhere was closed where AOL had been shorted as a hedge.

The chart below shows the one year performance of AOL shares, versus its 200 day moving average. Looking at this chart, AOL’s low point in its 52 week range is $29.16 per share, with $46.98 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $44.46.

According to the ETF Finder at ETFChannel.com, AOL makes up 3.81% of the Guggenheim Spin-Off ETF (CSD) which is higher by about 1.1% on the day Wednesday.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.